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Manhunt Underway for Suspect Linked to Bombing in New Jersey and New York City; Interview with Senator Ron Johnson; NYPD Releases Image Of NYC Bombing Suspect; Investigators: Possible Terror Cell Behind Bombings. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 19, 2016 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Wendy Sherman, appreciate your perspective. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

CUOMO: There is new information coming in right now. We have breaking coverage on the bombings in New York and New Jersey. Let's get right to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world who are watching NEW DAY. We do have a major breaking story at this hour. There's a massive manhunt underway for the man police are looking for that may be behind the bombing in New York City and two other bombings in New Jersey. His picture is on your screen now.

CUOMO: All right, his name is there as well. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is 28-years-old. The FBI cautions this man could be armed and dangerous. If you see him, you see someone who looks like him, this is not the time to play it safe, except with your own personal safety. Stay away. Do not engage. Pick up the phone, 1-800-577-tips, 1-800-577-tips.

We have every angle covered. Let's begin with CNN producer Shimon Prokupecz. Now, Shimon let's reset for people, OK? This happened yesterday. People heard about it. The investigation was immediate, and coordinated and focused on surveillance video. What did they see? And how did the trail go from this?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN PRODUCER: So on the surveillance video, which they found in the Chelsea area on 23rd Street where the explosion occurred, they see a man wheeling a duffel bag. And in that duffel bag eventually he is seen later on, and in that duffel bag investigators believe was the pressure cooker. All day yesterday authorities were telling us that they had some idea of who this man was and they were working to find him. This morning --

CUOMO: Why? Just so that people don't -- were they following this guy and lost him and then this happened? Or because of the forensics on the pressure cooker bomb they found their way to him? PROKUPECZ: We don't know how they found their way to him, but they

had some idea of who he was. And I think they had been working on trying to apprehend him. This morning, just a couple of -- just an hour ago, the police released this photo of this man and they say he is specifically is being sought in connection with the Chelsea bombing, where the massive explosion occurred and the 29 people were injured. That is what they're saying specifically that this is what he's being -- that's what he's being sought in connection for.

CAMEROTA: They released this very quickly so it lets you know the urgency that they feel to find him. Let's just tell the viewers a few more details that we know. He's 28 years old. He is originally from Afghanistan. He's a naturalized citizen. Do we know yet from your reporting, is he connected to a larger cell?

PROKUPECZ: So they believe there perhaps there may have been a larger cell operating between New Jersey and New York. There was the bombing at the Marine charity race in seaside heights which occurred on Saturday also, a bomb exploded. It was believed to be a pipe bomb. So from there the investigation began and they have now, they believe, pieced all of this together and believe it's all part of one, perhaps. This is what they're going by, one group operating it seems out of Elizabeth, New Jersey. It seems to be centered out of Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the FBI has been all morning conducting a search.

CUOMO: They found a lot of similarities in material of these bombs, the detonation devices. The check on that is it's also very common technology. But the timing seems to be more than a coincidence for them. Shimon, we know you'll stay on that part. We know there's also an active searching on right now. We want to get to that.

CAMEROTA: That's happening in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Authorities there, of course, are looking at this second scene. That's where this bomb exploded. Several others were found in a trash can near a train station. So let's bring in CNN's Rachel Crane live with all of the breaking details. Tell us about this, Rachel.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, well, sources are telling CNN that this raid that is happening behind me, that it's -- this is connected to the ongoing terror investigation. We've seen FBI agents here all morning going in to this fried chicken restaurant also conducting their investigation in the home above it. We've also seen ATF agents here, we've seen state police.

We're also hearing several reports that this is the last known address of Ahmad. We have not been able to confirm that, but that's what multiple sources, multiple reports are saying. This morning we have also been seeing that the perimeter, the secured perimeter, is being widened around here. Of course the day is starting, residents are coming on to the street wondering what is happening. Everybody has many questions. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Rachel, thank you very much. Let us know what you figure out from the scene. There are a lot of different operations going on with this investigation right now. There was a stop of a vehicle that was going over the Verrazano Bridge. Authorities believe that those men may have been suggestive of a wider group of people at work. But again, that man that we keep putting up on your screen, that is the focus of the investigation right now, a manhunt for this man, 1-800-577-tips. He is on the run. Authorities do not know where he is. They are asking for your help.

[08:05:08] Now, another piece of this place was that -- this investigation is that there was another bomb near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. So for that part let's get to CNN's Jean Casarez live at the scene with the latest. They brought in the robot to try and keel with it, and that's when it went off. What do we know?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we know is this is an active situation right now. It's a crime scene. A crime scene investigation is going on. They say if you see something, say something. This is an example of that last night at 9:30, two men walked by a trash can here in Elizabeth, New Jersey, next to a pub near the train station. They saw a back pack. They thought there might be something in it. So they got it, they took it under the train tracks, they opened it up and they saw a pipe and they saw wires.

They then went to local authorities and said we think we've got something serious here, and what you are looking at right there is when that robot went in to actually rectify the situation it accidentally detonated one of the bombs in there. And we are hearing that there were four bombs in there, at least four, multiple devices.

So at that point the FBI is called in and all sources. They now have it in a safe container. They will be taking it, shipping it to Quantico, Virginia, for all forensic evidence. But they also, we understand, found some surveillance video from that pub, and overnight they've been going over that video to see if there are any identities of someone who would have taken that backpack and put it in that trash can. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Jean, thank you very much. Let us know what you learn as you learn it.

Now to Minnesota. There was another attack there. Didn't involve an explosive, and the authorities know who did it. They identified the suspect in this weekend's stabbing spree at Minnesota shopping mall. An ISIS linked news agency is taking responsibility, praising the attacker as a, quote, "soldier of the Islamic State." CNN's Rosa Flores is live in St. Cloud, Minnesota. What do we know?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, good morning. We're learning new details from community leaders here, leaders of the Somali community, and also from CNN law enforcement sources who are identifying the suspect in this case as Dahir Adan. We learned he lived in this community, a 22-year-old, worked for a private security company, went to college here as well. And his parents lived in the apartment complex you see behind me.

But let me get you up to speed here. This attack happened on Saturday night at about 8:15 p.m. Authorities say that a man wearing a private security uniform walked into the mall, made a reference to Allah, asked people there if they were Muslim before attacking them with a knife. By the end of the night, nine people were stabbed.

Now authorities say this could have been so much worse if it wasn't for an off-duty police officer who was at the mall. Jason Falconer from nearby Avon, they say that he sprung into action. He shot and killed the suspect even when the suspect was lunging at him.

Now, a news agency linked to ISIS is claiming responsibility, and saying that this individual was a soldier of the Islamic State. CNN of course cannot independently confirm that. But we do know that the FBI is investigating this as a possible act of terrorism. Alisyn?

CUOMO: Rosa, thank you very much for all of this.

Let's go back to our top story. We want to put up the picture of this man the police say is connected to the New York City bombings. This is the person on your screen, Ahmad Khan Rahami. We want to bring in now Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. He's chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Senator, thanks so much for being with us on this very busy morning.

SEN. RON JOHNSON, (R) WISCONSIN: Morning. Isn't it great news we already have the picture and the name of the perpetrator, at least one of them? Great police work. You know, our hats off to the men and women in blue.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. They are moving with incredible alacrity trying to bring all of this together and certainly to the public. You know, TV is powerful. TV can find this person. And so they're doing all the right stuff. But as chairman of the homeland committee, what do you know? I mean how -- do you believe that this was the work of a cell and that he's connected to them?

JOHNSON: Well, the news reporters do a whole lot better job of getting information out quickly. We have to wait for the FBI to actually release it to us. So, listen, I don't have any more information than what's already being reported. This story is moving very fast.

But here's what's disconcerting is you had multiple attacks, multiple bombs, probably multiple perpetrators it sounds like. So it looks like it's a cell. We had a stabbing up in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Alisyn, I travel around Wisconsin and I ask Wisconsinites, have you ever heard of Samy Mohamed Hamzeh? Nobody has. How about the Masonic Center in Milwaukee, because Samy Mohamed Hamzeh in January of this year, his plot was foiled.

[08:10:02] But he said he'd be 100 percent happy if 30 Wisconsinites were slaughtered in his planned terrorist attack. So St. Cloud, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, San Bernardino, Orlando, you know, this threat is real. It is growing, and it's metastasizing. CIA Director John Brennan said all of our efforts, two years, over two years since President Obama stated our goal related to ISIS is to defeat it, ISIS remains a formidable, resilient, and largely cohesive enemy. All of our efforts have not reduced their terrorist capability and their global reach. So that's a pretty sad assessment of the lack of leadership, the lack

of activity addressing the root cause of this problem, which is Islamic State and Islamic terrorism.

CAMEROTA: Obviously it's a chilling assessment of the idea that nothing has reduced their impact because we also hear that when their territory is shrunk it does release their impact. You don't buy that?

JOHNSON: No. The analogy I use is a bee hive in your backyard. We all know what we have to do. You've got to take it out. But what President Obama in effect is doing is he's poking that hive with a stick. And he's doing some damage, stirring up the nest. They are leaving the nest. They're setting up different hives. ISIS is metastasizing, it's evolving. We have talked about lone wolves. Now we're talking about wolf packs potentially directed in Brussels, potentially Istanbul. And, you know, nobody knows this situation right here. But we know as long as ISIS exists they're going to be -- they're going to continue to inspire these types of attacks.

CAMEROTA: So if air strikes are not the answer, what do you think the answer is?

JOHNSON: America has to show leadership.

CAMEROTA: What's that look like?

JOHNSON: Not the number of troops, not the massive effort. But like George H.W. Bush did in the first gulf war, he actually assembled a committed coalition of the willing, stated the objective, and then assembled those countries. People don't realize it, but our coalition members paid for 85 percent of that effort. They provided close to 250,000 troops. We have got to defeat ISIS.

CAMEROTA: Basically ground troops is what you're saying?

JOHNSON: I've talked to high administration officials who do confide and say, listen, if we did this, if we led we could take out ISIS in two months.

CAMEROTA: With ground troops?

JOHNSON: And we haven't done it. We haven't done it. Yes, who else is going to do it? Who else is going to do it? We've been sitting here for two years. We have not defeated ISIS. And here again we're sitting here on a Monday morning, and we've seen pipe bombs and pressure cooker bombs and we've seen stabbing in St. Cloud. Aren't you getting sick of it? You know --

CAMEROTA: But I mean so --

JOHNSON: This isn't going away.

CAMEROTA: So in other words you're saying if the U.S. led with ground troops into Syria, that then that would stamp out ISIS? Because we always hear about the ideology. It's an ideology that's already taken root here. JOHNSON: We have to deny them that territory. We have to destroy

that caliphate, and then we have got to be tenaciously relentless in hunting down Islamic terrorists wherever they reside. I'm not saying this is something we're going to accomplish in six months or two years. This is a generational war. But the blunders, the strategic blunder of historic proportions of this administration was not leaving a stabilizing force behind in Iraq. And so we have not remained relentless, and we have to.

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump was just on a different morning show, and he talked about what he predicts for the future. So let me play that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a mess. And it's a shame, and we -- we're going to have to be very tough. I think maybe we're going to be seeing a big change over the last couple of days. I think this is something that maybe we'll get -- will happen perhaps more and more all over the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you mean? More terror strikes?

TRUMP: Yes, because we've been weak. Our country has been weak. We're letting people in by the thousands and tens of thousands. I've been saying you've got to stop it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Senator, what do you think about that, that he predicts that this will happen more and more across the country? Is that the right tone?

JOHNSON: I can't predict anything. Other than I do know, as John Brennan stated, we've not reduced their capabilities. President Obama declared an end to the war, right? Did it end? There's only two ways to end a war. You either defeat the enemy, or both sides lay down their arms. ISIS is not laying down their arms. They continue to inspire.

Yes, we're making some progress, you know, inching away or nicking away at that caliphate. But because it's more difficult for foreign fighters to come into Syria and Iraq right now, ISIS is telling people to kill in place. That's probably what we're seeing here. I can't for sure say it, but you take a look at the picture of the perpetrator here and somehow you just might assume that whether it's directly inspired or directed, it's probably inspired in some way, shape, or form by what's happening over in the Middle East.

CAMEROTA: You're obviously blaming President Obama for much of this.

JOHNSON: No, no. I blame Islamic terrorists. But I do -- I do say that President Obama by bugging out of Iraq, rather than heeding the lessons of history as we did in Germany, Japan, and South Korea leaving a stabilizing force behind, we allowed ISIS to rise from the ashes of a thoroughly defeated Al Qaeda in Iraq. CAMEROTA: I mean, look, you know the other side says that president

Bush declared mission accomplished prematurely and went in, and to Iraq and upset the applecart there. You know that that --

JOHNSON: Even Vice President Biden said Iraq was a spectacular success as they were bugging out. Yes, we had to leave that stabilizing force behind. So again, you know, we have to heed the lessons of history. We have to look at the root cause. And right now the first root cause is that the caliphate exists. They hold that territory.

We have to deny them that territory, destroy that caliphate, and then again, with a committed coalition of the civilized world, we've got to remain tenacious and find and root out Islamic terrorists wherever they reside.

It's a long term. It's a generational struggle. It's already been a generational struggle.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Ron Johnson, thanks so much for being here on NEW DAY.

JOHNSON: Have a good morning.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're going to have more breaking coverage. The man on your screen, he is the focus. There is a massive manhunt that police are having right now. They need your help. He's about 5'6", 200 pounds, 28 years old.

If you see him, say something. Make this call. Do not approach him yourself. He is believed to be armed and dangerous by authorities, 1- 800-577-tips. What does the president want us to know about what's happening right now? We have the White House press secretary next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We're staying on breaking news. Police are looking for the man on your screen right now. His name, Ahmad Khan Rahami. He's believed to be 28 years old. He's believed to be about 5'6", 200 pounds. Last known residence was in New Jersey.

Authorities don't know where he is right now. They believe he could be armed and dangerous. They want you not to approach him. They want you to call them. You see the number on your screen, 1-800-577-tips, 1-800-577-tips.

[08:20:05]Authorities say this is the man at the center of the explosion of that bomb in Chelsea. They believe that that explosive device, and the others that have been found in New Jersey and also in New York are connected in some way. They may be looking for more than this man, but this is the key. So if you see him, say something.

Let's bring in White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. Josh, it's good to have you with us. We know you're here with the president because of the G-8. We want to talk to you about that, but the urgency involved.

We haven't heard from the president yet. He was getting on a plane just as these explosions happened. No word from the White House. Why not?

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Listen, Chris, the president's been getting updated through the night and even already this morning by his national security team about the latest of the investigation. Obviously this is something we're following closely.

There are a bunch of federal resources that are up here in New York because of the U.N. General Assembly meetings over the course of this week. So federal officials are deeply involved here and I think it's likely you'll get a chance to hear from the president relatively soon.

CUOMO: And it's important, though, isn't it, Josh, because I mean, of course, you had almost 30 people who were injured. All of them thank God are out of the hospital, but lives have changed forever. The country's afraid. We don't know where this guy is that they're looking for. There may have been a cell at play that went somewhat undetected. Time for leadership. Where's our leader?

EARNEST: Listen, I think the president will have an opportunity to address this later today. What we're focused on is making sure that we are letting the federal investigators who are on the job lead the course of this investigation and follow the facts and get to the bottom of exactly what's happened.

They're obviously working through the night. We saw first responders respond heroically on Saturday night to save lives and look out for innocent people and our investigators are continuing to do really good work to get to the bottom of what exactly happened here.

The president's fully supporting them. He's the one that's in the loop being updated on this regularly. But look Chris, this raises a bunch of broader questions about what we need to do to make sure we're keeping the country safe and protecting the country from terrorists.

CUOMO: Is this a reflection of a reality that we are not safe? That this cell was able, if it is a cell, you know, this is very early in the investigation.

EARNEST: Right.

CUOMO: But if there was some number of people planning to do harm, and they went undetected, if this can just happen and it can't be stopped on, you know, every time, obviously, is it a reflection of the fact that we're not that safe?

EARNEST: No, I think we are safe. And there's no denying after 15 years we just observed the anniversary of 9/11, our country is much better equipped to prevent those kinds of attacks.

That is a testament to our men and women in the military who have worked very hard overseas to apply pressure to terrorist organizations that want to do harm to the United States. In fact just earlier this month, the United States military took two different strikes against senior ISIL figures. These are two plotters, Adnani who is responsible for some of the plotting in Europe, and another senior external plotter from ISIL.

So we're continuing to apply significant pressure to senior leaders in ISIL who might want to do us harm. The other thing we have to do, Chris, is we have to acknowledge that one of the other difficult things to do is to try and disrupt these sort of lone wolf activities.

It's hard to get inside the mind of an individual. It's easier to disrupt plots. We have more capability to disrupt those kinds of plots than it is to try to disrupt and prevent a lone wolf.

The president's acknowledged that that is a big challenge. So what we have seen is we've seen DHS do a much better job of working with online companies, Google, Twitter, Facebook, and others that are coordinating with the federal government to shut down the channels that we know that ISIL and other extremist groups are using to propagate their hateful, bankrupt ideology.

CUOMO: The FBI just put out a bolo, be on the lookout for, just so you understand that this is the urgency. This is the man that they want in connection with what happened in Chelsea.

That explosive device a pressure cooker bomb it was believed they believe is connected in terms of the material involved and technology involved with bombs that were found also in New Jersey and multiple locations.

One of them went off during a Marine sponsored race. The man's name, Ahmad Khan Rahami. Believed to be 28 years old, 5'6", about 200 pounds. Authorities want your help not in apprehending the suspect they believe he could be armed and dangerous.

Last known address Elizabeth, New Jersey so people in and around that area bad guys like this when they're on the run tend to start very close to home. So if you see something, call, 1-800-577-tips.

Now the face of the man on this screen, the name. He is a naturalized citizen here. He is from Afghanistan. It raises the specter of the fear, the xenophobia of those who are getting into this country and whether they are efficiently vetted in a way that has to be done.

We know. But can it be done well enough? This is a big, big issue in this campaign. Is this a reflection of not getting it done?

EARNEST: Well, Chris, I don't want to speak to any individual suspects or individuals who are wanted right now. What I can tell you is that we are, when it comes to ISIL, we are in a fight, a narrative fight with them, a narrative battle.

And what ISIL wants to do is they want to project that they are an organization that is representing Islam in a fight and a war against the west, and a war against the United States. [08:25:08]That is a bankrupt, false narrative. It's a mythology and we have made progress in debunking that mythology. ISIL was a group that was viewed as on the move and on the march when they made a bunch of progress in Iraq a couple of summers ago.

But since that time we have worked with Iraqi security forces. We've taken back more than half of the territory that they previously controlled. We made important progress inside of Syria taking back 25 percent of the ground they previously controlled there.

We've taken senior ISIL plotters off the battlefield. So we have made progress in debunking this mythology that somehow ISIL is waging this war. Here's another element of this fight.

We can't play into this narrative that somehow the United States or the west is against -- is fighting against the Muslim religion. The fact is there are millions of patriotic Muslims in this country right now that make our country proud.

They serve in our armed services. They serve in our law enforcement. They are doctors. They are teachers. They are lawyers. They are nurses. These are individuals who make a substantial, and positive contribution to our country.

And ISIL would -- that is an inconvenient fact for the ISIL narrative and we can't paint with a broad brush. We can't suggest and, and, and hold under suspicion individuals as possible terrorists just because of the way that they worship God. That is, that is contrary to what we believe as Americans. It also undermines our fight against ISIL.

CUOMO: That gets into the dialogue of this election. Many as you know in the intelligence community believe that our cultural assimilation of Muslims and really everybody who comes to America is a big reason we haven't seen more home-grown threats as we're seeing in Europe right now.

There are other factors as well of course, but it gets us into the dialogue of this election and there does seem to be this tension between do we come together or do we exacerbate what is apart?

President Obama weighed in in an interesting way. He was speaking to African-American voters. And he said, basically, would see it as an insult to my legacy if black voters don't come out for Hillary Clinton.

That is unusually strong language for him and it's an unusual message. It would be an insult to my legacy if you don't come out for her. What's the impact of that supposed to be from his perspective?

EARNEST: I think the impact is to send a clear message to the president's supporters across the country that even though his name is on the ballot he feels passionately about the outcome of this race.

And it's important for people to understand that if they're wondering -- many people have been very dismayed at the rhetoric that we've seen in the context of this political debate. A lot of people have been turned off by politics because of the rhetoric that's been coming from the Republican side and there's a tendency to want to just shut it out and ignore it and the president is saying the stakes are too high.

Even though my name is on the -- is not on the ballot, the progress that we've made is because the Republican candidate is promising to undo all of that to roll it all back.

So the president despite the fact that he's not on the ballot feels very passionately about the outcome of this race and feels like it's important for people to be engaged particularly people who had not previously been involved in politics, but got engaged in support of his campaign for the very first time. The president's making the case to them that they should stay engaged.

CUOMO: Josh Earnest, we know we're expecting the president. He's going to speak at the G-8 today. We expect to hear what he says about the ongoing investigation here. We appreciate you giving us an advance on what we're going to hear.

EARNEST: Thank you, Chris. I appreciate it. Good to see you.

CUOMO: Always a pleasure -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: What would Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, do about terror threats? Governor Johnson joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)